Some family members are close. Some just cross the line. One woman says her cousin's idea of a joke wrecked her hearing aids, cost her thousands, and led to a court battle that ended in wage garnishment—and now, somehow, she's the one the family's angry with.
The post appeared in r/AITAH, where Reddit users weigh in on morally messy situations. The original poster explained that at her grandmother's birthday party, her cousin—25 and often treated as the "golden child" in the family—decided it would be funny to throw her into the pool to mess up her freshly styled hair. She says she told him clearly, multiple times, not to do it.
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He did it anyway.
"I have had hearing problems for years," she wrote. "I recently got a $6,000 pair of hearing aids. He threw me in the pool, and my hearing aids were ruined."
When she told him what had happened, she says he brushed it off. "Whoops, didn't know you had hearing aids now." No apology. No offer to pay. When she told him the cost and said he'd need to replace them, he refused.
Her family urged her to let it go. He was in college, working a low-paying job at a call center, raising a baby with his girlfriend in a one-bedroom apartment. They said she earned more than him—more than anyone in the family—and it would hurt him too much to pay.
But she filed a claim in court. And she won.
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He still didn't pay, so she went back to court and secured a wage garnishment order—20% of his total wages, the legal maximum. That pushed him over the edge financially. He picked up more hours and eventually dropped out of college to keep paying rent. That, she says, is when the family turned on her.
"Had he given a real apology after the incident and asked if he could wait till he finished school to pay me back, I would've been fine with it," she wrote.
Instead, she said, he stood his ground and refused to take any responsibility. To her, it wasn't just about being pushed into a pool—it was the months of deflection and refusal that followed. So she sued, won, and only after his wages were garnished did her family start to care—just not in the way she expected.
Reddit commenters largely stood by her.
"NTA. Where he messed up was not negotiating a payment plan with you that he could afford. A 20% garnish is a harsh way to learn his lesson, but he earned that lesson."
Another added, "He can go back to court and request a lower percentage if it's really hurting him. That he hasn't just shows he'd rather play victim and make you look bad."
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One response asked bluntly, "If he'd broken a wheelchair someone needed to get around, would the family still say he shouldn't have to pay? Hearing aids are medical equipment. He destroyed them. That's not a prank."
Others questioned why the rest of the family, so quick to defend him, weren't offering financial help themselves. "If they're so concerned, why aren't they chipping in to help pay off what he owes you?"
And perhaps the most succinct take: "He played a stupid game and won a stupid prize."
Despite the court rulings in her favor, she's now facing the emotional fallout of being iced out by relatives who say she should've let it go because she earns more. But as many pointed out, fairness isn't based on who has the higher income—it's based on who caused the damage, and who made the choice not to fix it.
What started as a poolside prank turned into a legal fight, a broken family dynamic, and a reminder that when it comes to money—and accountability—some family members draw the line at the exact wrong place.
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Image: Imagn
